So the dean of KU has a thread. He's being ripped on hardcore. So here is my question: why don't people rip on HYP etc departments that are more or less guaranteed unemployment. Seems sort or unfair TTT law gets all the flak.

Attention all: Pratt is a TRAP SCHOOL. Don't be fooled by successful boomers like Wilson and Mapplethorpe. That was a different era. It's ranked #27, waaaay outside the MagicalSix. They don't even list their employment stats! Trappitytraptrap.

Seoulless wrote:So the dean of KU has a thread. He's being ripped on hardcore. So here is my question: why don't people rip on HYP etc departments that are more or less guaranteed unemployment. Seems sort or unfair TTT law gets all the flak.

Because 1) this is a place to talk about law schools, 2) people do rip on "unemployable majors" and I'm sure if art schools were a topic of conversation here plenty of people would disapprove of them 3) art schools don't sell employment/riches the way that law schools do and 4) I doubt the disparity in outcomes between different art schools is as great as the disparity in outcome between Yale and Golden Gate law school.

I mean, there isn't an "art school transparency" movement because everyone knows art is rarely the path to fame and riches or at the least an upper-middle class lifestyle. Further, you don't need to go to art school to be an artist, whereas you do need to go to law school to be a lawyer.

Apples and oranges.

But in any case, given your question: are you saying people on this site should rip on TTT law schools less, or art schools more?

A. Nony Mouse wrote:I mean, there isn't an "art school transparency" movement because everyone knows art is rarely the path to fame and riches or at the least an upper-middle class lifestyle. Further, you don't need to go to art school to be an artist, whereas you do need to go to law school to be a lawyer.

Also, I think there is a lot of debate in various places about whether an MFA is worth it/how much you should be willing to spend on an MFA. There just isn't quite the same scam element because MFAs don't sell what law schools sell.

I don't know about art school, but humanities academia has a well-established scamblog movement. Here's the Paul Campos of humanities PhD programs: http://chronicle.com/article/Graduate-S ... -the/44846. A lot of the people looking at MFAs and things tend to run into that article.

The other issue is that professional schools are plainly designed to place students into a particular profession. That's why it's fair to scrutinize claims that law schools and medical schools make about their placement rates. Art degrees are more about improving your craft, or interacting with a community of artists, or whatever. It doesn't lend itself to the binary good outcome / bad outcome analysis that we often do here.

I dabbled in some humanities classes at my undergrad and all the instructors were very honest about job prospects in creative fields and employability of creative/arts type majors. MFA programs and the like were pretty discouraged unless from select institutions (e.g. Iowa Writer's Workshop). Also our career services office was great and connected a lot of people with paid internships in their field or our school itself would fund fellowships for folks who needed to pursue an unpaid internship to get their foot in the door. I suspect HYP have very similar CSOs and resources available to like-minded students.

Nobody I knew majoring in English/Art History/Music thought their degree was going to make them rich or famous (well, except the kid I knew who went into I-Banking, pretty sure he's doing well financially). Plenty of people at TTTs think they're on the road to six figures and the law schools themselves are doing their best to mask their horrible outcomes.